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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Harold B. Finger (generally known as Harry to his family, friends, and professional associates) has had a very diverse professional career in which he has made major contributions and advancements in various areas including aeronautics and space systems, energy policy and technology development programs, urban development and housing issues, and government management. He is still working in those areas in various capacities.
After graduating from the City College of New York in 1944 with a BS Degree in Mechanical Engineering, he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory which later became the Lewis Research Center (now the John Glenn Research Laboratory) in Cleveland, Ohio as an Aeronautical Research Scientist. He was first responsible for aircraft supercharger evaluation and testing including German and Japanese superchargers. He then moved on to analysis, testing, and development of new axial flow compressor systems for the new jet propulsion engines including major advances to provide for high performance and stable operation over a wide range of flight speed and altitude conditions. During that time (in 1950), he also received his Master's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Case Institute of Technology. His position steadily advanced to Associate Chief of the Compressor Research Branch and, then after being included in a select group at the Center that was actively schooled in nuclear science and engineering, he was assigned as Chief, Nuclear Radiation Shielding.
When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established on October 1,1958, Mr. Finger was asked to come to Washington where he started as Chief of NASA's space Nuclear Propulsion program and later was named Director, Space Power and Nuclear Systems. In 1960, he was also appointed Manager of the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office which was a joint office of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and NASA responsible for managing the development of nuclear reactor rocket propulsion systems for deep space missions. In 1965, he was also appointed the AEC's Director, Space Nuclear Systems Division. In those three positions, in which served simultaneously, he was responsible for the development of the radioisotope power systems used to power instruments on the Moon in the Apollo program and in various deep space scientific missions and for the development of the nuclear rocket systems that demonstrated their capability for ultimate propulsion of very deep space robotic missions and also for ultimate human missions to Mars. He served in those three positions till 1967 when he was named as NASA's Associate Administrator for Organization and Management responsible for all of NASA's management functions including budget, contracts, personnel, and university and technology application programs.
In March, 1969, Harold Finger was appointed as the first Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology in the Department of Housing and Urban Development where he established a broad program in housing assistance, housing technology, housing management, mixed community development, urban planning, etc. Many of these led to new approaches still being applied to help provide for our nation's housing needs for all. For example, he led an experimental program on housing assistance for the needy which ran for several years and that led to the major Section 8 voucher program which is a major assistance program today. Sample communities were built to demonstrate and encourage communities of a mixed income population. That included development of advanced building technology and energy systems to expedite and reduce the cost of construction and operation. These various programs also emphasized improved housing management and solution of problems encountered in many public housing projects at that time.
At the end of 1972, after more than 28 years of government service, Harold Finger left to join the General Electric Company as the General Manager of the new Center for Energy Systems in Washington and as Manager of the Electric Utility Engineering Operation in Schenectady, NY. In 1980, he was named Staff Executive of GE's Power Systems Strategic Planning and Development at the corporate Headquarters in Fairfield, CT. He served there on the broad business planning of various of the utility power systems for application to providing reliable electrical capacity for our growing economy. In January, 1983, Mr. Finger left General Electric to become President and CEO of the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness, a non-profit energy analysis and public information organization involved mainly with electric utility issues and broad energy analysis, including nuclear energy systems as supply sources for electricity needs.
As indicated earlier, though Mr. Finger retired in May, 1991, he has continued to be involved in all these fields of his past experience — space and aeronautics, housing, energy — and he is also significantly active in management of government through his roles as a Fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration to which he was named in 1970. He is President of the NASA Alumni League; he is a member of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Society; he is a lifetime Trustee of the National Housing Conference concerned with assuring availability of housing required for those in need; he is a Fellow in the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics; he is a member of the American Nuclear Society and various other societies involved in his many areas of expertise and continues to serve on special panels investigating major issues in these diverse areas..